1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to swing sets and more particularly to bracket assemblies utilized to construct swing sets.
2. Prior Art
Swing sets are typically made of steel pipe or wood. They also typically are left outside year round, left to weather. The pipe swing sets rust very quickly. Wooden swing sets look much better than the steel swing sets, and they also last much longer.
However, the wooden swing sets are also typically very expensive to buy and can require a carpenter to assemble. The legs of the wooden swing sets should preferably be constructed from 4".times.4"s. Brackets utilized to construct wooden truss assemblies, such as swing sets, should be simple to manufacture, and to provide ease of assembly, of the wooden components of the truss or swing set.
One such bracket or connector is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,801 to Gilb. The connector is complicated to make and the connector requires the members to which it attaches, to be diagonally cut.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,413,362 shows a metallic clip for reinforcing joints which has multiple direction bends which make the clip relatively more complicated to manufacture, and would not lend itself to swing set assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,780,579 shows a truss brace which has many complicated cuts and bends. This brace also requires its associated legs to be carefully trimmed with diagonal cuts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,406 shows a connector brace for a sawhorse which requires multiple forming operations as well as multiple cutting operations. This brace necessitates extremely complicated manufacturing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,081 discloses a truss assembly utilizing trimmed trapezoidal wooden support brackets and trimmed legs. This type of construction is expensive to manufacture, even though the final assembly of the kit shown, would be relatively simple.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bracket construction which itself is simple to manufacture and which permits its associated wooden assembly, such as a wooden swing set, to be assembled without the need for difficult diagonal cuts.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bracket which can be economical in material usage.